THE HOME STRAIGHT: ACSOM'S CELTIC SEASON REVIEW PART 4
- By LIAM McBRIDE
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read
ACSOM'S Liam McBride concludes his Celtic season review for 2024/25 with a look at the final three months of the campaign. Like most of Celtic's season, it was accented by both highs and lows.
Another Successful Celtic Season Ends on a Low Note
The final quarter of the season included Celtic closing out their fourth consecutive league title and thirteenth in fourteen seasons.
The Champions were also looking to retain the Scottish Cup to complete the sixth treble in nine seasons, while interesting subplots developed such as the possibility of breaking goal-scoring records plus James Forrest aiming to make it sixteen goal-scoring seasons in a row.
March
Celtic began the month of March with a tricky away tie to Stephen Robinson’s St Mirren. The Buddies had shown considerable steel at home throughout the season, winning against Rangers, Hibernian and Aberdeen. They would give Celtic a run for their money, twice clawing back Jeffrey Schlupp and Arne Engels goals.
Despite the announcement of a Schlupp loan deal underwhelming, the German’s Celtic career had exceeded expectations with a series of convincing performances. The Hoops huffed and puffed, but looked as though they may be heading for another frustrating away day. Come the sixty-fifth minute, Yang was substituted on to the right-hand side. The South Korean scored two and assisted one, with the Bhoys leaving Paisley as 5-2 winners.
The following week, Celtic welcomed Hibs to Paradise for the Scottish Cup quarter-final. On a subconscious level, it felt like the most important element of the remaining season. Despite it being just the second week in March, the league was all but wrapped up plus the European journey had finished. The Scottish Cup was the main event.
Moreover, Hibernian’s sizable away crowd contributed to a terrific buzz and occasion. On the pitch, it was Brendan Rodgers’ side who started the more intense. With a typically terrific piece of instinctual movement, Daizen Maeda fired Celtic into the lead. Hibs offered little for the rest of the afternoon, with Adam Idah doubling Celtic’s lead during second half stoppage time.
A week later, a confident Celtic side faced off against Barry Fergusons’ Rangers. After a three-nil horror show two months earlier, there was a sense of revenge in the air. Rodgers spoke in the pre-match press conference, claiming Rangers had “stolen our game” and promised his side were hungry to get back to winning ways.
Yet, it was Rangers who started the brighter of the two sides, with Nico Raskin opening the score from a near post header. Celtic struggled to build through the central in the opening stages, and soon enough they were two down thanks to a well-worked goal from the visitors.
From that moment on, Celtic flipped a switch; it became one-way traffic. Rangers wouldn’t register another shot until minute 79. Maeda pulled one back just after the break, while Reo Hatate equalised in the seventy-fourth minute.
The Bhoys looked certain to take all three points but a series of errors at the back gifted Hamza Igamane an opportunity in the 88th minute, who hammered home into the roof of the net. Celtic left the park stunned, it was a game they never should have lost, but it was now back-to-back derby defeats for the first time since 2021.
Post-international break, Celtic returned to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Hearts. Rodgers spoke after the match about the improved positioning in the possession phase that allowed his side to play through the press better than the previous week against Rangers.
There was an element of truth in this, in particular at the first goal, where Celtic played from from Sinsalo, with Hatate and McGregor rotating positions before a wonderfully timed pass through to Maeda. At the same time though, there was an element of relativity. Of course, it is much easier to play with confidence against a weaker team on a smaller occasion.
A subplot in these two games was the solid displays by Maik Nawrocki. Despite limited game time, he performed well in both matches and was shown to be deserving of a place in the team.
April
Just a week later, the Champions slumped to a surprise 1-0 defeat against bottom side St Johnstone. It was a truly shocking display that saw Celtic lose their fourth domestic game of the year in as many months.
To put it into perspective, they lost just one in 2024. While I mentioned earlier the excellent start to Jeffrey Schlupp’s Celtic career, the opening forty-five minutes in Perth proved to be the nail in the coffin for the rest of his stay. He never saw much of a chance afterwards.
Post-match, Rodgers lamented the display. stating, “It’s a group that has mental strength. I’ve been in teams, especially up here, where you just power your way through the season, right to the very end. And there’s maybe a few that are comfortable.”
It was damning words, although they proved to be effective. After a slump of form following the Champions League exit, Celtic finished April with three victories and fifteen goals in the process. In the first of the three, the Bhoys welcomed Kilmarnock and were 4-0 up within 22 minutes.
A Hatate double, a wonder strike from Carter-Vickers plus a back-post finish from Maeda put the Bhoys in cruise control. As a matter of fact, Maeda’s goal made him the first player since Henrik Larsson to score in eight consecutive home starts.
Anthony Ralston topped off the day with a striker-like goal, to make Celtic 5-1 winners. Coincidentally, the Scottish fullback scored twice all season, with both being the final goal in home hammerings of Kilmarnock.
A week later, Celtic faced St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup Semi-final. The pattern of flurrying goals continued as the Holders scored four goals in eleven minutes to take an incredible lead in at the break. Jota added to the fun in the second half, with Celtic booking a place in the final.
The Hoops confirmed their fourth consecutive title with a 5-0 routing at Tannadice. It proved to be a game that made the headlines, with the away support protesting the ludicrously high ticket prices by throwing a bunch of tangerines onto the park in the first half.
After a slow start, Ryan Strain put the ball in his own net. Soon after, Nicolas Kuhn registered a double, with Adam Idah following. Although Jota suffered a knee injury midway through the first half, that would put him on the sidelines for the rest of 2025.
May
The final month of the season began in hilarious fashion at Ibrox. Despite leaving the tunnel as runners-up for the fourth consecutive season, the home side showed no shame by blaring out “Simply The Best” to greet both sets of players.
Just a week after securing the title, Celtic fans lapped up the opportunity and sang the tune ironically, leaving the home crowd baffled. It was an open-goal opportunity that couldn’t be missed.
Celtic had the lion's share of possession in the opening half and settled into the game nicely. Rangers had some joy from set pieces but weren’t causing the Celts much issues with the ball on the ground.
Although a counter-attack resulting from an Adam Idah missed chance, was well capitalized on by Cyriel Dessers, who fired the home side into the lead. However, Celtic started the second half stronger.
Adam Idah continued his good spell, with his fourth goal in three games, to fire Celtic level. Maeda had a terrific chance at the end but was unable to capitalise, and the spoils were shared.
Three more league games waited. With the league already wrapped up, attention turned to the cup final. However, there were two interesting subplots unfolding. Firstly, could Celtic break the one hundred and fourteen goals (thirty-eight game season) record of Ange Postecoglou’s 2022/23 Champions?
The Bhoys needed twelve goals from their final three games, which was going to be a tall order. Secondly, could James Forrest register a goal for the sixteenth consecutive season?
In the first of three games, Celtic defeated an in-form Hibernian side by three goals to one. A quick-fire double before the break canceled out an early Martin Boyle strike. Adam Idah’s goal was of particular visual ease, with a perfectly played piece of build-up starting from
Schmeichel.
For the third goal, the whole Celtic midfield combined, with Hatate putting daylight between the two sides. With a few minutes to go Forrest was through on goal, but unable to capitalise, shooting just wide.
The thirty-three-year-old started midweek, in a 5-1 victory over Aberdeen, but was again unable to register a goal. The winger put in a man-of-the-match performance, on a night where Celtic made nine changes. Ten days before a further meeting with the Dons in the Scottish Cup final, Rodgers had some severe selection headaches.
Yang, McCowan and Forrest had all excelled and made great cases for themselves. It was also an evening where Johnny Kenny would register his first Celtic goal, with a brilliantly timed header. Unfortunately, though, it ended in bitter fashion as Reo Hatate was needlessly injured by Alfie Dorrington. As a consequence, he would sit out the rest of the season.
Trophy Day will be remembered for one thing and one thing only: James Forrest’s fairytale equaliser. Truthfully, it was a lacklustre performance that curtailed any chance of breaking the 2022/23 goalscoring record and left Celtic trailing St Mirren in the dying minutes.
Yet, with the ball on the left hand side, Taylor passed inside to McCowan. McCowan then looked up and found Johnson. Johnson subsequently played a pass to Forrest in acres of space.
It was as though all the players were in on it.
Ian Crocker's voice on Sky Sports raised in pitch, the Celtic fans stood up in anticipation, and all the stars aligned. A one-touch finish from Forrest set the Celtic faithful into a frenzy, as though they had clinched a late winner on a European night. It was truly a special moment to remember. The type of moment that makes being a Celtic fan so special.
After the celebrations of a fourth league title, the Champions turned their attention to the Scottish Cup Final. After missing out on a Treble the previous season, Celtic looked to win their second in three and sixth in nine.
They lined up with a front line of Kuhn, Idah and Maeda.The Irishman was in good goal-scoring form while Kuhn and Maeda had caused Aberdeen all sorts of issues in the reverse game at Hampden. Their pace in behind was the key.
However, Aberdeen changed their approach, with a 5-3-2 out-of-possession and a deep defensive line. They were intent on making the game as tricky as possible for the Champions and to afford no free space. Celtic started slowly but managed to get in front with a Cameron-Carter Vickers header opening the scoring.
Afterwards, though, the Bhoys didn’t kick on and were leading by just one goal with ten minutes to go. A Kasper Schmeichel blunder then let Aberdeen back into the game. While McCowan and Schlupp came close soon after, ultimately the game would go to penalties.
The streak of three consecutive shootout victories would come to an end, with the Dons ending their thirty-five-year Scottish Cup drought. Coincidentally, their 1990 victory also came with a penalties win over Celtic.
On the day Celtic were poor. As I wrote after the game,
“Overall, it was a frustrating watch with Celtic continually shooting themselves in the foot with their lack of bravery. Aberdeen’s structure was solid, let’s not take that away from them, but there were still one on one’s all over the park, and when you have better quality players you must make that count.
Risk-taking is necessary. In that respect, the Hoops clearly missed Reo Hatate.
If anything Celtic seemed comfortable with their numerical advantage at the back, and as a result, most of the game was played around the halfway line.
Over the course of the 120 minutes, Celtic didn’t show enough ambition and speed to merit a victory. Ultimately, it was anyone’s game at penalties, and unlike the League Cup Final, the Bhoys came out the wrong side of a coin toss.”
Celtic lost with class, applauding Aberdeen as they lifted the trophy. Brendan Rodgers said after the match:
“You have to accept that. It’s part of sport and part of football. And as long as you can look at it and reflect honestly then we can say we weren’t good enough in our quality. We’ve got no else to blame.”
So, your month-by-month season review concludes. Despite a disappointing final day, let’s not lose sight of the fact that it was another season where Celtic breezed to a league title.
There was also the clear progress on the continental stage that we had all been crying out for. There are elements to improve on, but there are also areas to appreciate, and reasons to look back on 2024/25 with a smile in the years to come.
